Culture

As the civil service vows to improve the diversity of its graduate intake, former senior official Andrew Greenway asks whether Oxford's famed PPE degree is really a golden ticket to the top of the political and administrative elite 

Cabinet Office-commissioned report finds flagship Fast Stream graduate programme remains “unrepresentative of the population at large”, as minister Matt Hancock vows to take action

Report by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee says that final round of funding to the beleaguered youth charity — subject to a warning from then-Cabinet Office perm sec Richard Heaton — "should not have been authorised"

Lord Grocott reviews Chris Austin and Richard Faulkner’s Disconnected! Broken Links in Britain’s Rail Policy

Upper chamber pushes for income-related measures to be retained

Majority of departments will be asked to create new apprenticeships equivalent to 2.3% of their overall staffing levels, BIS confirms

Work and Pensions Committee says central government must provide more guidance to local authorities following welfare handover – and warns of the "human and financial costs" of failure

With the end of 2015 in sight, we asked Whitehall's top officials to review the year, set out their priorities for 2016 – and shed some light on their festive plans. Charity Commission chief executive Paula Sussex ​ takes part in our biggest-ever perm secs' round-up series...

DWP says it will meet the cost of redundancies stemming from decision not to move Housing Benefit staff into the department when benefits are merged

Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood pays tribute to the prime minister’s late principal private secretary Chris Martin, a remarkable official who embodied the enduring values of the civil service he loved

Political intrigue mixes with personal tragedy in this haunting Edwardian play

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills may be facing a tough Spending Review settlement, but permanent secretary Martin Donnelly tells Matt Foster that the “honest and open” culture at BIS will endure – whatever the chancellor decides